NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WRIC) — The Wason Center for Civic Leadership at Christopher Newport University has released its annual State of the Commonwealth survey.
The State of the Commonwealth survey assesses Virginians’ views on the 2025 Democratic gubernatorial primary, constitutional amendments, taxes, gun policies, early childhood spending and other topics.
1,000 Virginia registered voters were surveyed between Jan. 11, 2024 and Jan. 17, 2024. Based on the survey results, there are certain areas in which the participants were in agreement, like safe gun storage and eliminating property taxes for cars.
2025 Democratic gubernatorial primary
Looking forward at the 2025 Democratic gubernatorial primary, Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney are the frontrunners to go up against Governor Glenn Youngkin on Election Day.
43% of the Democratic participants in the survey said they had a favorable opinion of Spanberger, while Stoney was “noticeably less well known among Virginia Democratic voters,” with 10% of Democratic participants saying they had a favorable opinion of him and 82% saying they had no opinion or did not know.
Minimum wage, marijuana, tax cuts and early childhood spending
57% of voters surveyed support the retail sale of recreational marijuana, 68% support increasing the minimum wage to $15 by 2026 and 79% support a proposal to put $448 million towards childcare initiatives in Virginia.
As for tax cuts, half of the participants support the proposal to cut taxes for corporations and individuals in the state. Property taxes for cars appear to be unpopular, with 67% of participants supporting repealing it.
Gun policies
87% of participants said they are in support of gun owners locking up their firearms in a safe place if they have children in the house and 81% support criminal penalties for gun owners that have their guns taken by minors and used to commit crimes.
Half of participants support allowing individuals to carry concealed guns in more public places. In addition, results show that 56% of participants support banning assault-style weapons and opposing teachers carrying guns in K-12 schools.
